Auditor general Guylaine Leclerc said Wednesday she studied five establishments, including CEGEP de Rosemont and CEGEP de Sherbrooke, and found that contracts they awarded were plagued by delays and cost overruns.

Leclerc also found that CEGEP administrators reiumbursed travel, meal and alcohol expenses without having asked for bills. The auditor said she found irregularities in more than half of the 232 spending accounts she scrutinized.

Saying she is taking the matter seriously, David announced Thursday she has ordered her deputy minister to come up with an action plan for all CEGEPs and private colleges subsidized by the government.

“The plan will be in action next fall in 2017, and I will receive the action plan I asked my deputy minister for in May 2017,” she said.

David said she wonders whether board members of CEGEPs are equipped enough to govern.

“Governing means that with all the money we have, we have to know everything about that amount of money, everything, all the details and that’s what we will work on.

“Are the boards really aware that they need to have all that information? That’s why training is so important. Training is about the consciousness that you have a responsibility. It’s a duty that you accept, and we have to be very careful about who’s on the board.”

The government, David said, is considering imposing three to six hours of management training to all board members in the education and health-care sectors.

In higher-education establishments, David said she doesn’t expect much resistance “because they’re very conscious that they want their CEGEP and college performing well.”

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